When a Highway Divides a City Improving Decision Making in Syracuse New York Case

When a Highway Divides a City Improving Decision Making in Syracuse, New York CASE ABSTRACT. Acting on the most vexing public problems requires more than just good social science and hard data. Acting on public problems requires creativity and innovation in how we build, maintain, and strengthen relationships while engaged in problem solving. This case study engages that challenge by working through the complex social and technical aspects of what to do about an aging interstate running through the heart of downtown Syracuse, NY. Stakeholders and citizens are polarized about what to do, and misinformation and mistrust is rampant. The case presents the issue in detail, before asking readers to develop a project proposal that will depolarize the situation and improve public and stakeholder engagement. This case was the second-place winner in E-PARCC’s 2014 “Collaborative Public Management, Collaborative Governance, and Collaborative Problem Solving” teaching case and simulation competition. It was double-blind peer reviewed by a committee of academics and practitioners. It was written by Jack Becker of the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. This case is intended for classroom discussion and is not intended to suggest either effective or ineffective handling of the situation depicted. It is brought to you by E-PARCC, part of the Maxwell School of Syracuse University’s Collaborative Governance Initiative, a subset of the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC). This material may be copied as many times as needed as long as the authors are given full credit for their work. When a Highway Divides a City Improving Decision Making in Syracuse, New York CONTENTS Introduction and Summary 3 Syracuse, New York, What To Do about Interstate 81? Section One: Understanding the History of Interstate 81 5 The Legacy of Slum Clearance Section Two: Syracuse and Interstate 81 today 7 Interstate 81: Facts and Technical Information Mapping Important Stakeholders Section Three: Developing a Proposal to Move Forward 14 Public Participation Analysis Proposals Teaching Note 21 Teaching This Case Participant Instructions Debriefing This Case in Class Who Is This Case Useful For? References 24 Appendixes 26 A. Map of Syracuse Metropolitan Area with Racial Breakdown B. Map of the City of Syracuse by Median Household Income C. May 2013 Attendees by Zip Code D. Analysis of Public Comments Received at the May 2013 Meeting Author’s Note: The author would like to thank Associate Professor Tina Nabatchi for mentorship and numerous reviews, and Assistant Professor Bruce Dayton for providing the initial space to think about this topic. 2 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY Syracuse, New York, What To Do about Interstate 81? Syracuse, New York, is in the midst of polarization concerning a critical transportation infrastructure question. Interstate 81 (I-81), running through the heart of downtown Syracuse, is rapidly deteriorating, and deciding what to do about the aging Interstate is a vexing problem that challenges lawmakers, planning officials, and citizens to make many decisions affecting their community. By 2017, a 15-mile stretch of the highway, which runs through and around Syracuse, will reach the end of its useful life, but most of the controversy has concerned a 1.4- mile elevated stretch of I-81 that runs through downtown Syracuse, a portion locals refer to as “the viaduct.” Four feasible options for resolving this issue focus largely on the 1.4-mile portion: (1) close the Interstate and convert it into a street-level boulevard, diverting highway traffic around the city to the Interstate 481 beltway; (2) rehabilitate the existing viaduct by removing and replacing the Interstate at current Federal Highway Administration standards; (3) remove and rebuild the Interstate below-grade, as a covered tunnel; (4) remove and rebuild the Interstate below-grade, as an uncovered tunnel. While these options have emerged as the most feasible, some city and county leaders have cautioned that other innovative options may still exist, but what those options might be is not very clear. I-81 was built at the end of 1950s and early 1960s to service local commuters in the metropolitan area, but has long served as an important through route for regional and international trade. The elevated Interstate services local and incoming traffic to the University Hill area where Syracuse University, the State University of New York School of Environmental Science and Forestry, and an important hospital district are all located. The Interstate supports access to those institutions for suburban communities while easing work commutes and enabling shoppers to travel between the northern suburbs and downtown Syracuse. However, many point out that a dividing line exists in the city: on the east side of I-81 are prosperous institutions on the University Hill and a majority of the city’s population of white citizens, and on the west side, a concentration of poverty and a majority of the city’s population of black citizens (see Appendix A and B). This demarcation of wealth makes the Interstate a path into prosperity for some and a wall barring others from it. Many have long identified the Interstate as a wall: "It was a city divided," Syracuse Common Council President Van Robinson said, speaking about arriving in Syracuse decades ago. "In fact, I immediately, at that time ... called it the 'Berlin Wall'” (Seward 2012). As of January 2014, Syracuse had a population of nearly 145,000 and a poverty level of 33.6%, more than twice that of the state of New York and one of the highest in the country for a city of its size (United States Census Bureau 2014). For an impoverished mid-sized city like Syracuse, a 3 major infrastructure project carries economic potential for the region, but also drives controversy. When we look around the country, massive infrastructure projects, such as interstate construction, have always been highly controversial, with conflict revolving “around aesthetics, some around strategies preferred by commercial and industrial interests, some around transportation system efficiency, some around a nascent concern for environmental protection and historical and neighborhood preservation, and some around race” (DiMento 2009, 138). In Syracuse, all these issues are very much at play as decision makers and the public wrestle with how to reconcile and address these competing interests. The Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council (SMTC), New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), are the three main governmental bodies in charge of this project. They are important decision makers on this issue. The SMTC is designated by the state to plan and implement projects in the metropolitan area. The NYSDOT is the state body that technically owns the interstate, and the FHA sets federal standards and will inevitably pay for as much as 80 percent of the associated project costs. Despite these mandates, many in Syracuse are still frustrated by the scarcity of legitimacy among decision makers. Between 2009 and 2013 there’s been significant public participation; however, these efforts have primarily been informational, aimed at communicating project proposals and objectives to the public. While a variety of stakeholders from professional associations and geographic areas have been engaged in the process, there have been few attempts to convene citizens or stakeholders with differing views in the same meeting. Decision makers are committed to public engagement but may simply lack the process expertise and are not viewed by the community as a neutral convener. Participation Works, a small nonprofit firm in Syracuse, has recognized the opportunity to submit a proposal to NYSDOT and SMTC that addresses this public engagement deficit. To help with this task, staff at Participation Works have collected information about the history of I-81 (Section One), compiled a technical analysis of the Interstate and mapped relevant stakeholders (Section Two), and assembled a collection of process proposals to help guide their proposal application moving forward (Section Three). Your job is to review these materials and write a two- to three- page proposal addressed to NYSDOT/SMTC. Further information about your task will be provided to you throughout the case. 4 SECTION ONE: UNDERSTANDING THE HISTORY OF INTERSTATE 81 Following World War II President Eisenhower bolstered a vision of a national highway system. This vision was eventually translated into policy when Congress passed the Federal Highway Act of 1956, which would use federal funds for 50 percent or more of the cost of national highway projects. This agreement was important to the national interest: federal funds would flow into American cities providing needed infrastructure improvements and funds for economic revitalization to help employ recently returned veterans. This strongly incentivized highway construction, an incentive that often trumped social and ethical concerns over the clearing of neighborhoods for construction. Syracuse was a particularly important location to federal planners, since it falls along a natural path among Canada, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—producers and consumers of a large portion of the nation’s commerce. But as Jim DiMento (2009, p. 135), a law professor at the University of California, points out, in Syracuse there was little “consideration of housing needs of those displaced, environmental and historical preservation, and broad-based citizen participation.” Public input processes, such as we expect them today, simply were not part of the legal or social fabric of the United States before the 1960s. In this era, decision making was largely left to experts and technocrats—while public views and perspectives were not deliberately ignored, public input was an afterthought, and the environmental impact assessments required today were still far off into the future (Aleshire 1972). The Syracuse–Onondaga County Post-War Planning Council initially proposed an Interstate route through the city (I-81) and a beltway around it (I-481) in 1944 (Dimento 2009, p.

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